Is Your Website Red-Flagged?

If your users are running a new plug-in called Site Advisor, it just may be. This company has taken it upon themselves to police the internet for us. Isn't that nice?

Well, maybe not. Since this company is making the rules up as they go - in other words, since they single-handedly decide what is "good" and what is "bad" without explicitly telling anyone - your site could be red-flagged at any time without you knowing why before-hand. Just try reading the description of their analysis and you'll find out quickly that they can really ban you for just about anything as subjective as "we don't like your downloads," or "you send too much email," or "you link to bad sites."

The good news is, on their FAQ page they say, "We like to see bad guys get better." How nice. So, if they erroneously mark your site as a "bad guy" based on their nebulous, subjective rules, all you have to do is wait until the next time they come back to your site. If you're not a "bad guy" anymore, they will grace you with a yellow or green flag.

What's that? You want to dispute your red flag, or let them know you've "changed your ways?" You can't. There's no way for you to be re-evaluated, other than to wait, while your livelihood is possibly effected, for them to get around to it. Sorry 'bout that.

So, this probably isn't a big deal, right? I mean, it's not like any of us will be flagged. We're all "good guys," right? Tell that to Kent Briggs of Briggsoft. His site has already been red-flagged. Sorry, Kent - you're a bad guy simply because you linked to winsite.com. RegNow.com is also flagged as "yellow." Sorry "bad guys," you shall all be banished to Exile Island until the next immunity challenge. Have a nice day.